The present invention relates to commercial fish processing operations, and more particularly to extracting high-value fish meat from waste body parts that are normally used for fish meal.
Commercial fish processing operations commonly process, package and freeze fish on marine vessels immediately after harvesting the fish. Typical commercial processing vessels cut and grind pollock, hake and other types of fish into fillets, surimi and fish meal. Many commercial processing vessels have several decks with equipment to sort, process, package and store the fillets, surimi and fish meal.
Commercial processing vessels typically have a processing deck where fish are sorted into size categories to run through either a fillet process line or a surimi process line. In the surimi process line, fillets from small fish are ground, washed, dewatered and pressed/extruded into a fish paste that is formed into a freezer block. The fillets and the surimi are then packaged and frozen in a freezing hold on a separate deck.
The fillet line and the surimi line produce fish waste products from waste body parts, such as bones, tails, heads and organs. The waste body parts are separately processed into fish meal for use in a variety of different products. Fish meal is a low value product compared to fillets and surimi. Therefore, fillets and surimi are generally much more profitable products.
One difficulty currently facing commercial fish processors is that many governments are setting quotas and increasing regulations on the amount and type of fish that can be harvested. For example, certain harvesting grounds are open for only a limited period of time, or the harvest of certain species of fish is limited to a maximum tonnage. Thus, to be more competitive, commercial fish processors are seeking procedures and equipment to increase the yield of fillets, surimi and other higher value products from each fish.
The present invention is directed toward methods and machines for extracting additional high-value fish meat from a waste body part of a fish. In one embodiment, a fish processing machine includes a primary processing line and a reclamation processing line. The primary processing line can include a conveyor system to transport a fish trunk along a primary processing path, a first cutter at a first location along the primary processing path configured to separate a waste body part from the fish trunk, and a second cutter at a second location along the primary processing path downstream from the first cutter. The second cutter has at least one knife arranged to slice high-value meat from the trunk.
The reclamation line is coupled to the primary line. The reclamation line can include a recovery cutter or a reclamation cutter to separate an additional high-value meat portion from the waste body part, and a transfer mechanism to automatically transport the waste body part from the primary line to the recovery cutter without manually manipulating the body part. The recovery cutter can comprise at least one cutting blade, and more preferably includes at least two cutting blades, in a cutting zone relative to a reclamation processing path. The cutting blade slices the additional meat portion from the waste body part. The transfer mechanism can comprise a receiving station proximate to the first location of the primary line to receive the separated waste body part, a support surface configured to orient the separated waste body part so that the additional meat portion is in the cutting zone, and a delivery station proximate to the recovery cutter to deliver the meat portion of the waste body part to the recovery cutter.
In operation, the waste body part is separated from the trunk of the fish in the primary line. The trunk of the fish continues in the primary line and is processed to produce fillets, surimi or other high-value fish products. The waste body part, such as a head, is automatically transported from the primary line to the reclamation line without manually manipulating the waste body part. The transfer mechanism delivers the waste body part to the recovery cutter along the reclamation processing path so that an additional meat portion on the waste body part engages the cutting blade of the recovery cutter. The cutting blade separates the additional meat portion from the waste body part. The additional meat portion can then be sent to a surimi line to be processed into high-value surimi, and the remaining portion of the waste body part can be transported to a fish meal processing station. Therefore, one embodiment of the invention extracts or reclaims additional meat from waste body parts that would have otherwise been turned into fish meal.